Firstly the closure was meant to start at 0930. Issues with vehicles held this up.

This is not acceptable. The diversion is obviously very large and took time. There were additional signs asked for by Sainsbury’s during our meeting, these were missing causing further delay.

The barriers and signs went to South Meadow this morning as agreed but were too late and have been abused and ignored since. I will take these out of the hedges and move back to where they were. I will put out additional cones also.

We had calls at 1555 to say a school bus couldn’t get through but I was on the phone to the foreman saying buses were coming through. So I don’t know what happened but have made sure we let school buses through between 0730 -0830 and 1530-1630. If these times need to change lightly please let me know.

Now we at Volker Highways are committed to make this difficult situation work. So I will be onsite from 0700 tomorrow morning if anyone would like to discuss on site.

We are all bitterly disappointed with today’s events and I’m sure we will have further issues. We will be trying our very best to put things right.

Many thanks Ed.

What was planned is as detailed below;

 Commencing on 11/02/19 for 2 weeks.

 For Health & Safety reasons, Keate’s Lane between its junction with High street and South Meadow Lane will be closed during this phase. This is to facilitate the works.

 RBWM will maintain access for emergency vehicles.

 For the 1st week, school buses will be provided access.

 Work will include civil engineering work, installation of new lighting & traffic signals.

 Eton Wick Road, junction with South Meadow lane will be closed on the 22 February for 2 days for the resurfacing works.

 The new traffic signals will be operational upon completion of this phase.

The diversion signage shown on the plan will go out on Monday 11 February as the closure is put in place. Legally it cannot go out any earlier.

Just for additional information: A number of other signs were discussed at our meeting and I can confirm:

· ‘No Parking’ signs have been put on South Meadow Lane along with cones.

· Signs have been put up in Eton Wick towards Eton to advise of the closure.

· Signs will be put at the end of Meadow Lane to indicate ‘Road Narrows’.

Please accept our apologies, whilst the majority of our plan to move into Phase 3 (road closure on Keate’s Lane) was in place there were elements that could have worked better on Monday. We have taken on board all the comments received regarding the situation in rush hour and addressed them where possible.

The main issues seemed to be:

· Whilst the closure was in place on Monday as publicised, it was intended to go out earlier in the day and the delay wasn’t ideal in terms of bedding it in before rush hour.

· The signs stating ‘NO PARKING’ in Meadow Lane went in a little too late in the morning to stop all parking. As these aren’t designated bays our signs are only advisory and I would note that cones and signs were moved by motorists which didn’t help.

· There was an issue with a school bus that couldn’t get through. However, the bus had nothing to identify it as a school bus.

What has been put in place yesterday and today:

· VolkerHighways were on site from 7am on Tuesday morning with additional traffic management staff. Officers met them on site to discuss all of the issues raised and agree actions.

· Additional cones will be added in Meadow Lane (which was clear of parking yesterday morning). Additional signs highlighting ‘Road Narrows’ will be put in place at either end of Meadow Lane today. Please note that South Meadow Lane/ Meadow Lane is not the official diversion route. Initially we had intended to close the entry into South Meadow Lane but were asked to keep this open as much as possible. We have done this (except 22nd/ 23rd February) but do not endorse this as the diversion which should always be on at least the same category of road as the one closed.

· Additional signage by Sainsbury’s is now in place.

· Diversion signage – all of the diversion signage on the plans circulated is in place and VolkerHighways have identified one or two additional locations where signage may help road users, this will be in place today.

· Advanced warning signage is in place including the approach from Eton Wick.

· School Buses will be allowed through this week. We have asked the bus operators to make it clear they are a school service by putting a sign in their front window.

· Our Communications team have asked BBC Radio Berkshire to continue to mention these works on travel news, particularly as we have moved into Phase 3 – road closure.

· RBWM have posted regular information on Twitter and Facebook regarding the work and the closure and information is available on our website.

Other issues – Yesterday we had a report of unscheduled utility works. These had left when we visited site but would not have helped with traffic on Eton High Street. In addition yesterday we did observe someone going through a red light, being followed by two other cars then meeting the traffic on green. There was just sufficient room for them to pass but we have limited ability to control drivers ignoring red lights.

The overall situation seemed to be working much better yesterday and today.

Unfortunately there is always a degree of disruption/ confusion initially with closures and diversions in key locations. This was similar when the scheme started under 3 way temporary signals which settled down as people got used to the temporary changes.

We will continue to monitor the situation with our Contractor (VolkerHighways) to minimise disruption.

Please send any further enquiries regarding the works to highways@rbwm.gov.uk so that we can ensure issues and enquiries can be dealt with quickly and efficiently by officers/ contractors.